The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-08-18
THE SECRET OF POPOOGIE.
4 Curious Western Stream that
Rivals Rider Hsggard's Hid
den Water Course.

yon OF the Popoogie from which PUSHES
the. Popoogie River at . point seven
miles above Lsnder) Is what is called
the Sink" Here the river sinks ab-
ruptiy from sight. disappearing in q
lofty and apparently impenetrable wall
OF rock. A quarter of mile below the
stream emerges stronger, clearer and
more sparkling than ever.
Jacob GaYlor, an old hunter, has found
and penetrated the secret passage. Pro-
ceeding to the spot where the wild
mountain stream foamed and ragged
against the wall of rock, Gaylor removed
his clothing, attached one end of stout
rope sixty feet in length to convenient
tree, and fastening the other end to his
waist and diving deep into the raging
waters, trusted himself to the current.
He was swept away with velocity akin
to that of bullet, and scarcely had he
started on his wild journey before it was
over. The strain of the rope brought
him to the surface, and q sensation of
relief shot through him as he realized
that no rock wall pressed down to
coffin him.
On getting the water out of his eyes
Gayior opened them in q semi obscurity
sort of late twilight. His first care
was to land and free himself from the
rope. He found himself in a large
cavern, into which scanty hight was
thrown from crevices in the rocky roof
far overhead, and through the centre of
which rushed the waters of the Popoo
gle. The waters flowed in a deep trench,
followed by their own action through
ages in the solid rock which tioored the
cavern. Following the stream for 100
yards the adVenturer found himself
gazing on sight which sent thrill of
horror through even him. The stream
abruptly entered a huge cylindrical
shaft sunk in the floor of the cavern.
The mouth of this shaft was fully
twenty feet in circumference, and Gay
Tor could hear the water roaring far be-
low IN the depths. This shaft was at the
extremity of the cavern, and GayIor be-
gan to fear that he was caught in a
death trap. He began an anxious and
hurried search for a mode of egress
from the cavern, and at last discovered
narrow opening in the walls about
midway between the point where the
waters entered the cavern and the shaft
in which they disappeared.
Passing with great difficulty through
this opening, Gaylor was suddenly pre-
cipitated distance of twenty feet.
Bruised and half stunned, he gathered
himself up and saw that he was in a
second cavern considerably larger than
that from which he had Just emerged.
The light in this subterranean room was
much better than in the one above it,
and on looking around him Gaylor pre-
ceived in the cavern's centre huge eel
umn composed of basalt; at the same
time his ears informed him of a muff1ed
but heavy roar in the immediate vicin-
ity. AS he approached the basalt col
umn, which reached to the cavern s roof
thirty feet above, this roaring waxed
louder, and he felt jarring sensation.
Walking up to the column he placed his
hand upon its glittering dark green sur
face, and fell it culver beneath his
touch, while the muffied roar grew al
most deafening. The basalt column of
| the lower cavern was the shaft of the
upper cavern. 1t was hollow, and
through it poured the waters of the hid
den passage. This immense rock tube
was just thirty feet in circumference,
which, basing the calculation on the cir
cumference of the mouth of the shaft in
| the upper cavern would make the walls
of the tube a thickness of about four
feet.
Gayior now continued his search for
way of escape, and soon found where
the waters of the hidden passage, after
emerging from the basalt tube, brought
up against the cavern wall. Rightly
conjecturing that this was the point
from which the water returned to the
light of day, the adventurer plunged in
deep and almost instantly found himself
beyond the hidden passage and swimming
in waters that sparkled beneath the sun